Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter
Harlequin (August 2011)
Mass Market: $5.50; ebook: $4.99
ISBN: 9780373618668
Favorite Lines: “Unless I came here before, but returned home to a time before we’d met, and my dreams were echoes of what was to be. That would mean history is now looping, but of course, that creates a paradox, and–” (p. 36, egalley)
Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden.
To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance.
Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out.…
Nicolai the Vampire was renowned for his virility, but in a twist of fate “The Dark Seducer” had become a sex slave in the kingdom of Delfina—stripped of his precious timepiece and his memory. All that remained was a primal need for freedom, revenge—and the only woman who could help him.
In her dreams, a wanton vampire called to Jane Parker, drawing her to his dark sexuality and his magical realm.
But for a human, all was not a fairy tale in Delfina. Jane was the key to Nicolai’s memory…but exploiting her meant dooming the only mortal he craved.
Lord of the Vampires was not the book I expected. I thought I was going to get another great Showalter story, but I was not impressed. I actually disliked the book.
It started off good enough. The heroine, Jane is an unemployed, former fringe scientist who had worked in the quantum physics field. She is still recovering from an accident in which a drunk driver crashed into her and killed her parents and sister. Jane knows about the existence of vampires and shapeshifters.
I was slightly surprised and intrigued by the large book Jane received and began to read. She falls asleep and has an erotic dream before awakening in another world where she is called Princess Odette. Odette was an ugly, sadistic bitch. She is now a very dead bitch. Cloaked in a magical glamour, Jane finds the male vampire she had sex dreams about.
He is Nicolai. Vampire and sex slave. His need for Jane is animalistic. He wants her in a bad way and she is his only hope for salvation. He doesn’t really care about her at first, but her scent and his need to have sex grows until she becomes just the woman he was never looking for. Jane and Nicolai work together to escape the land of Delfina and find love along the way.
Despite liking the idea of the story, I didn’t enjoy the actual story for several reasons.
First of all, I hated the heroine. She is TSTL. Her reactions to the different situations were unrealistic and silly. For an intelligent woman, she was awfully argumentative and blind to world surrounding her. She ran her mouth and put herself in awkward situations which usually ended not so good for her or the strange creatures tormenting her.
Secondly, I kept waiting for the revenge storyline to crop up. I was told Nicolai was infused with a need to revenge his parents. However, in the story he doesn’t remember his past until chapter 20. There are only 20 chapters in the book.
Three days. Within three days, Nicolai’s full memory was returned.
The book covers everything, but what the blurb tells me is going to happen. There is no revenge for the hero’s parents.
Finally, I hated how animalistic Nicolai seemed. From his introduction to the end of the book, staccato like sentences are used to display his mental state.
Nicolai stiffened and stilled, his ears twitching, his mouth-watering. Absolute hunger bathed him, his stomach twisting. Must…taste…female.–p. 31
Just before he thrust inside, the bushes to their left rattled, the leaves dancing together. His attention whipped there, a growl of pure menace leaving him.
Jane was still too lost in the throes of passion to care.”Nicolai! Please. What are you waiting for?” Make me your woman in truth.
“Protect.” He jerked upright, severing all contact. She reached for him, but he placed himself in front of her, acting as her shield. The time for pleasure had ended. the time for fighting had arrived.–p. 122My woman. Mine.–p. 243
In the end, Lord of the Vampires is the only Gena Showalter book I can think of that I didn’t like. I normally love her work. I didn’t love Lord of the Vampires. It felt awkward and took much determination on my part to read the entire book. I had such a bad experience with the book that I’m hesitant to read book two even though it’s written by a different author.
Scooper Speaks 